Mellow Mushroom

Get Mellow

14 Pizzas and 70 Beers in Adams Morgan

Let’s talk about the touchstones of Southern culture. The rootsy music. The ladies in hats. The
unintelligible, semi-corrupt college football system.

Also: beer and hippie-inspired pizza on a roof deck.

Specifically, Mellow Mushroom, now open in Adams Morgan as the latest Southern export to hit
DC.

If you’ve been around many SEC college towns, you’ve probably frequented one of these Alice in
Wonderland–type pizza joints, with jam bands on the stereo and white-hatted, polo-shirt-wearing
undergrads in the booths. This one breaks the mold a bit: three circus-themed
floors of brick, corrugated metal and wooden crates.

Being that it’s Indian summer and all, for now you’ll want to focus your attention on the roof deck
overlooking 18th Street, where you and your date can tuck into their gas-fired deck-oven pizza, in all kinds of
clever permutations. The Caesar, for instance, topped with a whole Caesar salad, or the game-day
appropriate Red Skin Potato Pie (it’s not Gross, man).

But while heat lamps are only days away, during colder months you’ll want to hibernate downstairs amid the
giant artwork of strongmen and human cannonballs. There, you’ll share small bites like meatballs with
fresh mozzarella and pretzels with cinnamon and honey. But more importantly: 50-plus bottles and 22 drafts,
most of them available by the pitcher.

In the works: live music, trivia nights and a beer club that has bonuses for you once you try them
all.